Review of Europa Report (2013) by Doug B — 25 Sep 2013

Something tells me that the maker's of the upcoming "Gravity" saw Europa report, recognized the potential of this kind of film, and decided to capitalize on it. This is a science fiction film that travels all the way to one of Jupiter's moons "Europa" but does not travel too far from facts or reality.

Minutes into the film it is revealed that one of the astronauts has disappeared and the way the actor's deliver that information steals your full attention, gets you anxious to find out why and prevents you from allowing yourself to miss any details.

This is a found-footage style of film so the cinematography is handicapped but the visuals are convincing enough that your eyes will stay wide open and interested.

Europa report is low budget and it shows, the astronauts have cameras in their helmets that are aimed at their faces. Their reactions are shown but not what they are seeing, this is obviously because they could not afford to go all out on VFX. Despite that, excellent performances get as close as possible to completely circumventing the shortage of production.

As airtight and fine tuned as our most advanced space ships Europa Report plays out almost flawlessly up until the end of its run when things start to crack and its humanness exposes itself.

This film is about us not being able to avoid making mandatory mistakes as humans. Feels like a cautionary tale that warns us of the dangers that emotion and curiosity could lead you into.

It is also about teamwork and making sacrifices for the advancement of knowledge.

Despite its mandatory flaws this movie is brilliant and extremely interesting. It will encourage you to educate yourself on our solar system and will reinforce your respect for astronauts.